For all of the latest developments, see these sources:
Rojava Information Center:
https://rojavainformationcenter.com
ANF English:
Hawar News:
Women Defend Rojava:
http://womendefendrojava.net/en/
NEWS
‘No Friends But the Mountains.’ What Life Looks Like for the Kurds of Syria, Now That the U.S. Has Pulled Back
14 Nov 2019 | Karl Vick, TIME
The modern Middle East was formed exactly 100 years ago when, in the wake of World War I, the victors began creating new countries. Among the populations deemed deserving of nationhood — along with Armenians and Azeris — were the Kurds.
https://time.com/longform/kurds-syria-refugees/
Open letter to NGOs accredited to the UN
13 Nov 2019 | KONGRA STAR Coordination
Since the 9th of October 2019 there have been continuous attacks of the Turkish state and the jihadist terror groups which they call their national army on the lands of North and East Syria. Before the occupation war started and since the very first days of the occupation war, many social groups worldwide expected an effective statement and position from the UN on this topic.
http://womendefendrojava.net/en/2019/11/14/open-letter-to-ngos-accredited-to-the-un/
Situation report of Heyva Sor
13 Nov 2019 | Heyva Sor a Kurd
On October 9, 2019 the Turkish army allied with Islamic militias started an offensive targeting mainly the area between Sere Kaniye andTell Abiad. The SDF in turn defended it. After a few hours a huge displacement of the population started toward the southern areas of Hasake, Raqqa, Ein issa and Tel Tamir. Below is a detailed report day by day with photos and the casualties recorded.
https://womendefendrojava.net/en/2019/11/16/daily-report-heyva-sor-18th-octobre-2019/
View from Ankara: Trump and Erdogan praise ties despite tensions
14 Nov 2019 | Andrew Wilks, Al Jazeera
Ankara, Turkey – As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan returned to his suite at Washington’s Willard Hotel after a lengthy meeting with Donald Trump and US senators on Wednesday, he may have felt his US trip had been a success, despite presenting no concrete agreements.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/11/view-ankara-trump-erdogan-praise-ties-tensions-191114072146442.html
Turkey detains over 50 before pro-Kurdish party congress
14 Nov 2019 | Ahval News
Police detained over 50 Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) members on Thursday in advance of the pro-Kurdish party’s congress, Mezopotamya news agency reported.
https://ahvalnews.com/peoples-democratic-party/turkey-detains-over-50-pro-kurdish-party-congress
Trump contradicts aides and says troops in Syria ‘only for oil’
13 Nov 2019 | Julian Borger, The Guardian
Donald Trump has insisted that the US military presence in Syria is “only for the oil”, contradicting his own officials who have insisted that the remaining forces were there to fight Isis.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/nov/13/donald-trump-syria-oil-us-troops-isis-turkey
Absent new agreements, Trump-Erdogan meeting ends with pledge to work together
13 Nov 2019 | Diego Cupolo
As the public impeachment hearings opened against US President Donald Trump, the embattled American leader hosted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the White House today.
https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2019/11/trump-erdogan-visit-white-house.html
President Trump brushes off critics to hail his ‘friend’ Erdogan
14 Nov 2019 | Richard Spencer, Sunday Times
President Trump faced down critics of his relationship with President Erdogan last night, giving the Turkish leader unqualified backing despite his invasion of northern Syria and growing authoritarian tendencies.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/31dbd29c-0655-11ea-872c-a98e8bfab8fc
US & Turkey working on ‘resolving S-400 issue,’ but Trump & Erdogan tight-lipped on details
13 Nov 2019 | RT News
US President Donald Trump and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan said their countries were working to “resolve” the issue of Ankara purchasing Russian S-400 air defense systems, without going into any specifics.
https://www.rt.com/usa/473363-trump-erdogan-press-conference/
Stolen Dreams, The Kurds and Us
13 Nov 2019 | David Morgan, Live Encounters
The great betrayal of the Kurds in Syria by Washington began with a midnight telephone call on 6th October 2019 between President Erdogan and President Trump, after which the US troops, which had been restraining the Turkish forces, were withdrawn from the Kurdish-controlled territory, giving a greenlight to the long planned Turkish invasion of Northern Syria.
https://liveencounters.net/2019-le-mag/12-december-thinkers-2019/david-morgan-stolen-dreams-the-kurds-and-us/
Outrage after Turkish journalist re-arrested a week after his release
12 Nov 2019 | AFP, Guardian
Turkish police have rearrested the journalist and novelist Ahmet Altan, just a week after his release from prison over alleged links to the failed 2016 coup. Altan and another veteran journalist, Nazlı Ilıcak, were released on 4 November despite having been convicted of “helping a terrorist group”.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/12/outrage-after-turkish-journalist-re-arrested-a-week-after-his-release?utm_term=RWRpdG9yaWFsX01lZGlhQnJpZWZpbmctMTkxMTE0&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=media_email&utm_campaign=MediaBriefing
Erdogan Will Have Fewer Friends Than Ever When He Visits The U.S. This Week
12 Nov 2019 | Akbar Shahid Ahmed, Huffington Post
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has provoked bipartisan condemnation in the U.S. before. On his last visit stateside, in 2017, his bodyguards beat American citizens protesting his government in Washington.
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/erdogan-trump-turkey-washington-visit_us_5dc62e0ce4b0fcfb7f668d32?ri18n=true&guccounter=1
Trump’s Syrian See-Saw: From Pullout to Pillage
12 Nov 2019 | Jim Kavanagh, CounterPunch
To withdraw, or not to withdraw? That is the question Donald Trump, in his own inimitable way, has answered both ways. First came the withdrawal. It was real, and had a significant effect.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/11/12/trumps-syrian-see-saw-from-pullout-to-pillage/
Syrian Kurd leader hits out at UK’s ‘almost invisible’ response to Turkish invasion
10 Nov 2019 | Patrick Wintour, Guardian
The leader of the Syrian Kurd civilian government has accused Britain of being almost invisible in its condemnation of the Turkish invasion in Syria, saying the UK appeared unwilling to offend Ankara because it feared isolation after leaving the European Union.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/10/syrian-kurd-leader-hits-out-at-uk-almost-invisible-response-to-turkish-invasion?CMP=share_btn_link
Turkey’s Other Weapon Against the Kurds: Water
11 Nov 2019 | Alexandra Marvar, The Nation
Since the early 2000s, a massive hydropower project in southeastern Turkey has been mired in controversy, moving forward in fits and starts. But as of this past July, construction is finally complete.
https://www.thenation.com/article/turkey-syria-iraq-kurds/
Solidarity Marches and Speeches in London on World Resistance Day for Rojava | 2 Nov 2019 [VIDEO]
12 Nov 2019 | Peace In Kurdistan
On 2 November 2019 hundreds of people marched from London’s iconic Marble Arch down to Trafalgar Square. Speakers from a range of ethnic and national communities spoke out in condemnation against Turkey’s illegal invasion of North East Syria (Rojava) as well as in support and solidarity with the people of Rojava and their revolutionary experiment in Democratic Confederalism (aka libertarian municipalsm).
https://vimeo.com/372483392
For Ahmet Altan – in a Turkish prison
13 Nov 2019 | Séamas Carraher, Global Rights
“Wounds are so deep and painful in these countries that in order to clean those wounds you have to use your pen like a scalpel”, Ahmet Altan
https://www.globalrights.info/2019/11/for-ahmet-altan-in-a-turkish-prison/
A perspective on the war from Jinwar women’s village [VIDEO]
13 Nov 2019 Women Defend Rojava
Jinwar women’s village is a project to build a free life, to find the future by walking there together, to change the world whilst living in the day to day. Crops are grown, bread is baked, children raised. And a new life carved out.
https://womendefendrojava.net/en/2019/11/13/a-perspective-on-the-war-from-jinwar-womens-village/
Kurdish-Iranian Writer Free After Six Years
14 Nov 2019 | PEN America
(New York, NY) – Kurdish-Iranian writer and refugee Behrouz Boochani was released after more than six years of detention by Australian immigration officials, including time spent at the now-shuttered Manus Island facility.
https://pen.org/press-release/kurdish-iranian-writer-released-after-six-years/
Resisting censorship in Turkey
14 Nov 2019 | English PEN
Freedom of expression in Turkey is rapidly deteriorating. Independent media has been all but wiped out and at least 117 journalists are behind bars, making Turkey the biggest jailer of journalists in the world.
https://www.englishpen.org/campaigns/resisting-censorship-in-turkey/
Erdogan’s ethnic cleansing of the Kurds is still happening now – and we have Trump to thank
16 Nov 2019 | Patrick Cockburn, Independent
Mass expulsion or the physical extermination of an entire ethnic or religious community – ethnic cleansing – is usually treated by the media in one of two different ways: either it receives maximum publicity as a horror story about which the world should care and do something about, or it is ignored and never reaches the news agenda.
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/erdogan-turkey-kurds-border-syria-war-trump-ethnic-cleansing-a9204581.html
Del Ponte: UN failed, West betrayed the Kurds
16 Nov 2019 | Serkan Demirel, Carla Del Ponte (Interview), ANF English
ANF talked with Carla Del Ponte, former Swiss attorney general and a former member of the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, about the UN’s eight year practice on Syria, why the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Syria are not dealt with, the Turkish state’s presence in Syria and ongoing invasion attacks against North-East Syria and trial of ISIS members.
https://anfenglishmobile.com/features/del-ponte-un-failed-west-betrayed-the-kurds-39336